We Are Beginning to Be Suspicious of Oprah’s Recent Weight Gain

The Super Bowl (and notably Bruce Springsteen’s crotch) distracted us from the sting of layoffs and magazine deaths, but it looks like the media industry has a case of the Mondays. Condé is trying to recuperate by sending mixed messages, while Oprah extends her world domination. AMI barely saved its tabloid empire and even right-wing bloggers are having tough times in ObamaLand.

• After the death of Domino, other Condé publications are feeling the pinch. New Yorker reporters, including head honcho David Remnick, stayed at friends’ houses in D.C. when covering the inauguration. Slumber parties are the new recession special! [NYT]

• Well, some Condé mags. After firing most of her online staff, Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman showed some tact and insisted on attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — flying first class. [NYP]

• O’s January issue featured a before and after image of Oprah on the cover, asking “How did I let this happen again?” The queen’s extra 40 pounds boosted sales to over 1.1 million single copies, the best-selling issue of the mag in three years. Take that, weight gain! [WWD]

• In other Oprah news, former MTV head Christina Norman is taking over the Oprah Network. Here’s hoping for Gawker’s apt premonition: The Hills, Oprah Style! [Gawker]

• EIC Michael Boodro “stepped down” from Martha Stewart Living. He will be replaced by Gael Towey, the founding art director of the magazine. Boodro will “freelance,” the catchall phrase known to other unemployed journos as “sleeping on my friend’s couch while ghostwriting ad copy.” [WWD]

• Pajamas Media, the right-wing bloggers responsible for sending Joe the Plumber to Israel, will “wind down” the blogging in April (It will still go on, only slower) Pajamas TV will still be in action and Joe will continue to live in our hearts and on the computer screen. [Runnin’ Scared/VV]

• David Denby’s new book, Snark, is not only a terrible attempt to understand 21st-century web culture, but also apparently full of intentional misreading and flat-out slander. Weren’t the New Yorker fact-checkers available to prevent this? [Wonkette]